


weak knees (smooth like honey)

by driftingcactus



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Boys In Love, Fluff, Kinda, M/M, Mutual Pining, also lapslock, jeno’s existential crisis, small mention of a panic attack, so cheesy, some lowkey ships if u squint, they curse a few times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 01:07:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14321184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driftingcactus/pseuds/driftingcactus
Summary: jaemin’s always been a charmer, his words effortlessly dripping with honey. maybe it affects jeno a little bit more than it should.alternatively, the 5 times jaemin makes jeno swoon and the 1 time jeno gives jaemin a taste of his own medicine





	weak knees (smooth like honey)

**Author's Note:**

> (firstly, this wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for my best friends a & s who encouraged me i love u shits)
> 
> rated teen for mild cursing!!
> 
> uhh so this was inspired after seeing the CELUV TV w the dreamies and jaemins story about flirting w a nurse without even realizing. hes so smooth and i was like,,, u know what would be cute,, a nomin fic where jenos flustered over jaemin being a charming little shit. 
> 
> english isn’t my first language and im not the best with grammar so please excuse any mistakes!!
> 
> (this didn’t turn out the way i expected to but?)
> 
> also tw warning for panic attacks!! jeno’s an anxious boy who has a lot of doubts so !!! you can skip over it if you’d like (you won’t miss much jeno’s just having a sexuality crisis)
> 
> i will put a ~ where it starts and a ~ where it ends !!
> 
> i hope the formatting isn’t too fucked up and i hope it’s enjoyable

I.

jaemin has been a smooth talker ever since he was young - always charming their teachers with his sweet words, making aunties coo at him and pinch his cheeks, constantly having classmates swooning over him. 

it’s not like he just did it on purpose, he just spoke and his words dripped with honey. jeno knew better than anyone else that he was also snarky as fuck, but his charms were undeniable. 

it’s a known fact that jaemin was charming - so why was jeno so flustered right now? 

 

they were squeezed in the back of the van with jisung, who was fast asleep with his head on the window, loud snores and all. all of the dreamies were exhausted after their schedule, and were just headed on the way back to the dorm after a long day. 

donghyuck and mark were bickering (more like flirting) as always, while renjun and chenle whispered in hushed chinese. it was a normal day. except jaemin was playing with his hands, running his fingers across jeno’s knuckles over and over, making jeno feel short of breath. he didn’t like jaemin like that - so he was confused why his ears started burning at such a small gesture. 

it stayed like that for the next few minutes, jaemin silently rubbing over his knuckles without a pause. jeno felt weirdly conscious of how they were pressed together. it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but suddenly he was very aware of how their thighs and shoulders were against each other, barely any space between them. sighing in frustration, jeno turned his head to look out the window at the passing cars instead of their hands - trying to ignore the tight feeling in his chest. 

he heard jaemin hum suddenly, breaking the silence, before he spoke softly. “jeno-ah,” he said, catching the other’s attention and making jeno turn to look at him. “your hands are really pretty. i think they’d look nicer if they were holding mine.” jaemin’s voice held a nonchalant air as he said that, locking eyes with jeno as he smiled. he looked ethereal at that moment, the light from the busy streets outside the car shining on jaemin’s face, making him look even more pretty than usual. (was it normal to think your best friend was absolutely gorgeous?)

jeno felt weak - like all the air was taken out of him, and vaguely noticed that his face up to his ears and down to his neck felt like it was burning, and that he probably looked like a fucking tomato at the moment. 

jaemin, noticing that he was blushing like a fool, laughed a little. “cute,” he hummed, then looking away from jeno and taking his phone out, probably to play some games on his phone. 

jeno almost choked at that, and for the rest of the car ride, it was quiet. the gentle rubbing of jaemin’s thumbs against his knuckles didn’t cease until they reached dorm. 

even hours after the whole incident, jeno felt his face burning in the late hours of the night, his mind replaying the car ride. he felt his own thumb rub at the knuckles of his other hand to replicate the feeling, and groaned weakly. “lee jeno, you are so fucking pathetic,” he whispered. 

when he finally fell asleep, he dreamt of boys with honey voices, soft smiles, and pretty eyes. 

jaemin has always been charming - but he had finally started to realize the full effect of the pretty boy’s sweet words.

 

II. 

the second time it happens, it’s a few days later and they’re getting ready for a live performance of go on music bank. 

jeno’s getting his make-up done, with jaemin seated in the chair next to him, also getting his make-up done. he has to physically restrain himself for gawking at jaemin while the other boy is getting his makeup done - the coordi-noona would get angry at him if he moved around too much. but that didn’t stop him from still taking a few glances at the other boy - he couldn’t help it. jaemin was stunning and jeno just wanted to appreciate it! 

he ignored the voice at the back of his head telling him that it wasn’t normal to think of his best friend in such a way - but he reassured himself that his feelings were completely platonic. 

after they got their makeup done, they squished together on one of the small couches in the dressing room, jeno watching jaemin play games on his phone. the silence around them was a little stifling ever since that day in the car, probably jeno’s fault. jaemin always complimented him, so there was no reason for him to feel so awkward, but he just couldnt help but feel so. 

jaemin suddenly pauses his game, and turns to look into jeno’s eyes again. he’s been doing that a lot recently. “jeno-ah,” he calls out softly, like he tends to do whenever sayinf jeno’s name. “have you been taken over by aliens or something? you haven’t said anything stupid this entire day - I’m worried,” he teases, not masking the little bit of concern in his voice. 

scoffing, he smacks jaemin’s shoulder. “shut up nana, i’m just especially tired today.” 

jaemin hums again in response, like he doesn’t quite believe jeno. it’s a few moments before he starts speaking again, “you must’ve been especially tired for the last week then, since it seems like you’ve been avoiding talking to me,” he says noncommittally.

“way to be shady, nana,” jeno quips. “and i haven’t been avoiding you! seriously! i’ve just been really out of it recently.” jeno hopes he didn’t sound frantic after saying that - he genuinely wasn’t trying to avoid jaemin! but after the car incident his brain and insides have both turned into mush. 

jaemin doesn’t respond again for a few moments, searching jeno’s eyes. he nods at jeno, and lays his head on the boy’s shoulder. “whatever you say, dork,” he says affectionately. they stay like that for a few moments. 5 minutes before it’s their time to go on stage, jeno’s leg bouncing up and down nervously. he always gets like this right before they’re about to perform, worried he’ll make mistakes in the choreo, worried the fans will think he looks bad, worried that he’ll never be good enough - 

he feels jaemin press a kiss to the corner of his jaw, cutting off his train of self-deprecating thoughts. “don’t worry sweets, you’ll do great, alright? you’re beautiful no matter what you do, i believe in you,” jaemin whispers softly, curling his hand around jeno’s wrist affectionately. jeno can feel his heart pounding in his head. jaemin liked to call everyone pet names frequently, but the soft whisper of the pet name made his heart clench this time around. he felt his cheeks heat up again, and prayed it wasn’t noticeable. 

it was illegal for jaemin to speak such mushy words without a second thought. it had to be illegal for him to make jeno feel this way with a few words. they were best friends, he shouldn’t be feeling like this. especially if jaemin was a boy, and jeno wasn’t exactly sure what his sexuality was. he hoped that jaemin couldn’t feel his racing pulse. 

not even a minute later, they were called up to go on stage, and he couldn’t shake off the burning feeling in the pit of his stomach or on his wrist for the rest of the performance. or really, the rest of the day. 

na jaemin really had a way with words. jeno didn’t know anyone could make him feel this weak with just a few words - it scared him a little. 

 

III. 

after thinking long and hard about it, jeno decided that he probably wasn’t gay. probably. he thought girls were pretty in a soft, flowery way. he liked girls, and even had a crush on a girl who was 2 grades above him when he was in middle school. 

her name was eunhee, and she had long, flowing hair, and pretty eyes. whenever she smiled at jeno, he felt like his heart would seize up. when he was younger, he thought that girls like eunhee were the definition of pretty. but whenever he thinks of pretty now, all that pops up in his mind is na jaemin. 

it’s not like jeno was gay — but after thinking even more, he came to the conclusion that he definitely was bisexual. he supposes that he did always think guys were cute but always dismissed it as platonic and never thought much of it. the very same year he got over eunhee, there was a boy named dongwoo. jeno didn’t know it back then, but he probably had a crush on him, too. dongwoo was tall, tan, and handsome in that boyish way that most were in middle school. jeno used to feel his face heat up whenever dongwoo would talk to him, their shoulders brushing, the taller boy having to hunch down a little to talk to jeno. 

he always assumed that he just felt intimidated by dongwoo - but years later it’s clear that he probably had a crush on dongwoo, too. 

~~~~~~~  
finding out his sexuality didn’t help his situation at all though - all it did was make him more jittery. what was he gonna do? did he really have a crush on jaemin? how would his members react if he ever told him? his parents? jeno didn’t know why he was freaking out so much - he started to feel tears sting at his eyes. his whole body was shaking and he couldn’t breathe and then, before he realized it, someone was sitting down next to him, slinging their arm around jeno’s shoulder. 

~~~~~

“jeno-ah,” he heard jaemin hum, like always, poking jeno’s cheek. jeno willed himself to not cry and turned to look at the other boy, forcing a smile so it wouldn’t look like he almost had a panic attack. 

“what’s wrong?” jaemin asked him, frowning a little when he noticed jeno was still shaking a little. “you look like you just saw a ghost.” 

“nah, i just was stressing myself over nothing. it’s fine,” jeno responded, a little weakly. he thinks that maybe he’s been a little pathetic in the last few days, with all his thoughts about jaemin and his sexuality and everything. 

“it didn’t look like nothing, sweets. tell moe the truth,” jaemin frowned visibly this time, stroking jeno’s cheekbone. jeno felt himself shudder. 

“uh.. um. i was gonna have a panic attack i think. it wasn’t that important though, don’t worry about it.” jeno stuttered out. he hoped jaemin would just leave it be. 

 

“of course it’s important babe,” he said, using the pet names again. jeno wanted to melt into a puddle. “if you don’t want to tell me what it was about, i won’t push, but the v-live is starting soon and you should sit out if you aren’t feeling well. next time you start to feel yourself panicking just call out for me alright?” jaemin’s tone was impossibly soft, and jeno kind of wanted to cry again. how could one boy be so perfect? jaemin had to be an angel.

 

giving jaemin a small smile, he stood up. “i’ll be fine. i don’t wanna disappoint our fans by not being in the v-live.” 

-

during the v-live, he knew that the other dream members could notice he was a little .. off. renjun kept asking in hushed whispers if he was alright, mark had one hand on his knee as a way to comfort him, and donghyuck, chenle, and jisung gave him worried looks. jaemin kept his hand around jeno’s wrist the whole time.

after the v-live was over, all the members looked at him worriedly. “jeno, is there anything you have to tell us. you were off during the entire live, dude,” mark says, patting him on the shoulder.

jeno just found out that he was bisexual — he didn’t know if he was ready to come out to his band members yet. coming out was something that’s supposed to take a while, wasn’t it? 

he felt jaemin whisper, “it’s okay, we love you, if there’s anything you need to say to us just say it,” in his ear. did jaemin magically know that he was gonna come out? jeno swore, once again, that jaemin wasn’t human.

“uh.. so… i’m bi? yeah. i’m bisexual,” he said, his eyes squeezed shut to avoid looking at the others’ reactions.

the hand around his wrist squeezed a little, and he heard chenle go, “that’s it?”

confused, he opened his eyes, and none of the members were looking at him with disgust. 

“dude, we been knew,” donghyuck snorted affectionately, ruffling jeno’s hair. 

“we’re we supposed to be surprised? i kind of assumed that you weren’t straight from the way you always look lovestruck whenever you’re around-“ jisung was cut off by renjun’s hand covering up the maknae’s mouth, shooting him a pointed look. 

“wait what? so you guys don’t think I’m disgusting or anything?” jeno was a little shocked - he knew his members loved him but he thought that at the very least he would get some looks of disgust or awkwardness. 

“dude, we’re all pretty gay. have you seen jungwoo? ten? or the way jaehyun and taeyong give each other heart eyes? yuta and sicheng? c’mon jeno, we could never hate you,” mark says, and he leans in to give jeno a hug. the rest of the dreamies follow shortly ever and they just sit there, all crowded on the couch, hugging. 

“i love you idiots so much,” jeno says, voice cracking a little because he couldn’t be more grateful to have such an amazing group of members. no, scratch that, an amazing group of friends. 

“we love you too,” jaemin hums in his ears, and after a while they all collectively decide that if they keep hugging chenle’s gonna suffocate, the smallest boy getting caught in the middle of the hug. 

 

later that night, in his and jaemin’s shared dorm room, they’re squished together on jaemin’s bed watching spider-man homecoming with subtitles. they’re snuggled under a big blanket, hands and legs intertwined. it makes jeno blush a little, but he ignores it in favor of watching the movie.

“the actor who plays spider-man is really cute,” jeno says absentmindedly during the scene where his best friend discovers he’s spider-man. 

he hears jaemin make a noise of agreement next to him, before saying, “i don’t know, i think you’re way more attractive.” his voice is innocent when saying this, as if he didn’t just make jeno almost make a heart attack. 

almost choking, he sputters, “shut up,” and shoves jaemin in the chest. the other laughs melodically in response and kisses the shell of his ear. “so cute when you get all flustered.” 

jeno offhandedly thinks that he’s going to die at 17 from a heart attack thanks to na jaemin. 

 

IV.

some more days later, all 18 members of nct are at a fanmeet. jeno’s a little bit nervous about not knowing what to say to the fans, but jaemin squeezing his hand reassures him (while also making him feel a little lightheaded. he’s so fucking whipped for jaemin holy shit—) 

he feels mark next to him flick his thigh, and snaps out of his jaemin-induced daze to see that a fan’s in front of him. 

“ah. i’m sorry! i spaced out a little,” he says, apologetic, and signs the album that the fan pushed in front of him.

his favorite part of fansigns are seeing the fans’ happy expressions. it makes his heart swell and he’s so grateful that NCT has so many wonderful fans. 

most of the fansign passes in a blur, a loop of signing a fans album, answering a question they have, casually chatting with them, and occasionally accepting presents that some fans give him. it’s still a little nerve-wracking, but nice to get to see his fans. 

he eavesdrops on jaemin unconsciously throughout the fanmeet, and the other boy is radiant. it’s like he was made to be an idol, to go to fansigns, because he chats with the fans like he knew them his whole life. it makes jeno just a little bit mushy and he wants to kiss jaemin.

it’s near the end of the fansign now, the amount of fans dying down, and the managers telling them that they’ll probably leave in a little bit. 

next to him, he hears jaemin read one of the questions a fan gave him out loud. 

“‘what’s your favorite thing in the world?’ huh? hm… that’s easy,” jaemin starts, and without hesitating he says, “jeno’s smile of course! isn’t it the prettiest? whenever i see it i’m happy.” the girl in front of jaemin looks like she wasn’t expecting that answer, but nods, satisfied with it anyways. 

jeno chokes a little, and he hears donghyuck mutter “so corny,” probably a little loud on purpose. 

the fan in front of him, jimin, asks if he’s alright, and he nods, giving her one of his eye smiles. “yeah, thank you for your concern jimin-ah. i hope to see you again soon!” he says, and she smiles at him shyly and moves on to mark. 

he peeks at jaemin, and sees the other already looking at him. when jaemin catches his gaze, he winks at jeno, grinning cheekily. jeno’s feels his ears burning, once again, and looks away promptly. 

the fan in front of him tells him that he looks a bit sick, and he thinks that he hears both mark and jaemin snickering in the background.

 

when they’re squished in the back of the van on the way home with renjun instead of jisung this time, jaemin holds his hand the whole time without any words. chenle and jisung are not so subtly whispering about how corny they are to mark and donghyuck, and jeno feels content. 

if he snuggles into jaemin a little more than usual on the way back to the dorm, either no one notices or they just decide not to say anything.

 

V.

it’s a friday, and one of their rare days off. there’s no schedule, so jeno wakes up 2 hours later than he usually does, at 11. he feels a weight around his waist, and notices that whatever his head is resting on isn’t his pillow. cracking open his eyes, he notices that he’s laying with jaemin, his head tucked in the crook of jaemin’s neck, the other boy’s arm thrown around his waist and their legs tangled up. 

it makes jeno blush (anything having to do with jaemin makes him blush) and he wiggles to get jaemin’s arm off of him, but not before staring a little to appreciate jaemin’s bare face. 

his skin isn’t flawless; they are teenagers who run on little sleep and eat way too much ramyun in the middle of the night when it’s too late for anyone to be up. he's not perfect, and there’s a hint of dark circles under his eyes, and he still wears his braces (which doesn’t make sense because jaemin has some of the nicest teeth jeno has ever seen) but despite this, jaemin is still so beautiful that it kind of makes jeno want to cry. he doesn’t think he’s ever felt this way about anyone.

he’s probably been looking a while, because when he glances up to jaemin’s eyes, the other is looking at him, amusement twinkling in his pretty eyes. “morning cutie,” he says, his voice gruff with sleep. it makes jeno feel flustered again. if jaemin had a nice voice in general, his voice was even nicer when he just woke up. “enjoy looking at my face?” he teases, and jeno pushes at his chest. “shut up, assface,” he grumbles, and jaemin just laughs at him and moves his arm up off of jeno. 

after washing their faces and brushing their teeth, they walk out together to see the rest of the dreamies sitting on the stools by the island in the kitchen. they’re all laughing at chenle, probably because he said something dumb again, but when jeno and jaemin walk in together they all stop talking. 

donghyuck is looking between them with a smirk on his face, chenle, renjun and jisung are all whispering to each other, and mark is just shaking his head. 

when they’re sitting down, and jeno starts to eat the pancakes that taeyong dropped off from the 127/U dorm (he was really like their parent sometimes, it was kind of precious,) donghyuck turns around to look him dead in the eye. 

“so,” he says, pausing to take a sip of his orange juice (it makes him look extra shady,) “are you and jaemin dating or what?” 

jeno chokes on his pancake, and looks at donghyuck with wide eyes. innocently, donghyuck bats his eyes, and pushes him a glass of water. “don’t die on me now buddy. let me rephrase my question. when are you gonna realize that you and jaemin are dating?”

after his little choking fit, he gulps down the glass of water just to give donghyuck the same incredulous look. “what are you talking about? me and jaemin aren’t da-“ he gets cut off by jaemin’s thumb swiping across the corner of his mouth. 

“sorry, sweets, you had syrup on the corner of your mouth,” he says casually, and pops his thumb in his mouth. jeno sputters, gaping at how casually jaemin just did that, and whips his head back around to see donghyuck smirking at him. 

“you were saying?” he says, smugly, and jeno just blushes defeatedly. 

-

later, him and jaemin are in the living room, standing behind the couch as chenle, jisung, and mark play video games. renjun and donghyuck are sitting on the floor, donghyuck insisting on painting renjun’s nails purple because ‘he had nice nail beds.’ 

it was one of those moments where everything just seemed so perfectly domestic; a time where nothing could go wrong, and jeno turned around to glance at jaemin’s side profile. 

if only he were actually dating jaemin, then he’d get to look unabashedly at his face everyday. (well, jeno did spend most of his time looking at jaemin but if they were dating he could atleast do it without shame.)

jaemin, noticing jeno’s gaze, turned around to give him a soft smile. it makes jeno’s knees jelly. 

“nana,” he calls out shakily, voice barely above a whisper. the other hums in response.

“are we.. are we dating?” the look on jaemin’s face is a little unreadable, and his eyes shift away from jeno’s for a moment before looking back. 

“i’m sorry if i just made things awkward.. but donghyuck just said something today and it made me think. because like.. you always tease me and do such sweet things and i just like you a lot and you probably don’t even like me back and-“ 

“jeno,” jaemin cuts him off. “shut up.”  
he pulls the front of jeno’s hood and connects their mouths, kissing jeno in the gentle way he seems to do everything. jaemin’s lips are just as soft as jeno’s imagined them to be, and one of his hands is clutching at the hair at the name of jeno’s neck, the other resting gently on his cheek. 

jeno’s not gonna be corny and say it felt magically, but really, the kiss didn’t let him down. it was soft and sweet and jaemin tasted just like the honey that dripped off of the words he said. after a few seconds, jaemin pulls away, and gives jeno the fondest look. 

“jeno-ah,” he starts, amused, “baby, sweets, angel, if you liked me you could’ve just said so. if you want to be dating then i’ll spend all of my time making sure you’re the most pampered boy on earth,” he says casually, like he didn’t just stop jeno’s whole world. 

jeno doesn’t respond, shocked frozen, and jaemin gives him a sweet smile. “jeno, i’ve loved you for 3 years now, you adorable, oblivious, handsome dork.” he says, and jeno literally feels his knees buckle. 

jaemin catches him with an arm around the waist, and laughs gently. “ah, you’re so, so cute,” he says, nuzzling jeno’s nose with his own. 

in the heat of the moment, jeno blurts, “please be my boyfriend oh my god,” and jaemin just smiles and kisses him again. 

in the back, he hears cheering and an “about time!” but he’s too caught up in jaemin and how soft jaemin’s hair is and jaemin, jaemin, jaemin. 

jaemin has been a smooth talker ever since he was young, always spewing words dripping with honey, but jeno has finally realized that jaemin’s words weren’t the only sweet thing about him. 

if na jaemin was the honey, lee jeno would be his bee anyday. 

 

+1

waking up with his face pressed in the crook of jaemin’s neck wasn’t an uncommon occurrence now that they were boyfriends. 

boyfriends. even thinking of the word makes him mushy. jeno presses a soft kiss to the juncture where jaemin’s neck meets his shoulder, and jaemin makes a soft noise to show that he’s awake. 

“are you finally awake now, sweets?” he murmurs in his groggy morning voice, and jeno moves up his hand to flick jaemin in the forehead. 

“shut up you cornball,” he huffs, moving his head out of the crook of jaemin’s neck to press a kiss to the other’s cheek. 

they’ve been dating for two months now, but jeno doesn’t think he will ever get used to dating jaemin. it’s like before when they were best friends, but just much more mushy. jaemin was even more cheesy, being more open with skinship and whispering sweet nothings into jeno’s ears. it was terribly corny, but it’s not like jeno really minded.

knocking him out of his internal monologue, he hears jaemin laugh softly. “i can’t shut up because you’re so cute. how does it feel to wake up knowing you’re the cutest boy in the world?”

trying to one-up jaemin for once in cheesiness, he hums, looking up at jaemin. “i don’t know, how does it feel jaemin?” 

redness spreads slowly across jaemin’s face, starting from his cheeks and spreading over his nose and down to his chest. it was the softest thing jeno’s ever seen in his life. 

whining, he hides his face from jeno. “that was so terrible, oh my god, I’m breaking up with you never speak again,” he groans, and jeno just laughs as he wraps his arms around jaemin and pulls him into a hug. 

“you look so cute when you get flustered,” he hums, and jaemin scowls at him. 

“stop stealing my lines, asshole!” 

eventually, they have to get up and get ready because they have an award show today, and mark won’t stop blowing up the group chat. 

all of the members boo when they walk out, and donghyuck shouts, “i never should’ve helped get you guys together!” that causes mark to exclaim in indignation that he was the one to get them together, causing the two to aggressively flirt-argue. jisung is on the verge, and chenle and renjun are whispering hushed chinese to each other. 

nothing has changed, jeno thinks, until he looks at jaemin and the other boy pecks his ear. nothing has changed, except now he gets to kiss the cutest boy in the world.

 

-fin

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos always appreciated!!


End file.
